2002 Infoshop Survey

2002 Infoshop Survey

Preliminary results

At the end of December 2002 and continuing through the month of January 2003, Infoshop.org ran a comprehensive online poll of our visitors and what we hoped would be a cross section of the anarchist movement in the United States. Few polls have been done with anarchists as the subjects, so there is little empirical data on who anarchists are, how they live their lives, and what they think about stuff.

Below you will find the PRELIMINARY RESULTS from the first half of the survey (people are invited to take the survey, but results won't be included in this set of data). The data below covers ALL INFOSHOP VISITORS, so no assumptions should be made that this data represents just anarchists. A future update to the results will break out the data just on anarchists who answered this survey.

The data below was taken from 922 surveys.

FREE FORM ANSWERS

SURVEY RESULTS (ALL RESPONDENTS)

Average Age: 24.1

CITY

Top cities in the survey

Boston 24
Washington, DC 16
Philadelphia 15
New York City 14
Los Angeles 14
Minneapolis 14
San Francisco 13
Toronto 11
Montréal
 10
Madison, Wisconsin 9
Ottawa 9
Seattle 8
Tempe, Arizona 7
New Brunswick
 7
Oakland 7
St. Louis 7
Cleveland 6
Calgary 6
Austin 6

STATE

The survey included responses from 47 out of 50 U.S. states, with no responses from New Mexico, New Hampshire and Wyoming.

Alaska 2  
Arkansas 2  
Alabama 7  
Arizona 20  
California 88  
Colorado 11  
Connecticut 15  
Delaware 2  
DC 16  
Florida 26  
Georgia 6  
Hawaii 1  
Idaho 2  
Illinois 27  
Indiana 11  
Iowa 3  
Kansas 5  
Kentucky 6  
Louisiana 7  
Maine 4  
Maryland 14  
Massachusetts 41  
Michigan 11  
Minnesota 17  
Mississippi 2  
Missouri 18  
Montana 2  
Nebraska 4  
Nevada 3  
New Jersey 22  
New York 40  
North Carolina 10  
North Dakota 2  
Ohio 31  
Oklahoma 1  
Oregon 23  
Pennsylvania 37  
Puerto Rico 1  
Rhode Island 4  
South Carolina 5  
South Dakota 4  
Tennessee 3  
Texas 26  
Utah 2  
Vermont 3  
Virginia 17  
Washington 18  
West Virginia 2  
Wisconsin 22  

COUNTRY

United States 674 73.1%
Canada 93  
United Kingdom 31  
Australia 18  
Aotearoa/New Zealand 9  
Germany 7  
Spain 6  
Sweden 6  
Belgium 6  
Netherlands 5  
Norway 4  
Ireland 4  
Israel 4  
Finland 4  
Turkey 2  
Portugal 2  
Mexico 2  
Indonesia 2  
Italy 2  
Romania 2  
Czech Republic 2  
Ecuador 2  
Brazil 2  
No answer 11  

And one survey each from the following countries: France, Croatia,
Chile, Argentina, Lebanon, Scotland, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Bolivia, Iceland,
Cuba, Philippines, Serbia, South Korea, Malta, TAZ, Latvia, Denmark, Yugoslavia,
Northern Ireland and one guy claiming to be on board the International Space
Station.

GENDER

Male 671 72.8%
Female 169 18.3
Other 27 2.9
Genderqueer 26 2.8
No answer 26 2.8
Trans 2 0.2
Mixed 1 0.1

RACE

White 645 70.0%
Mixed 87 9.4
Latino 28 3.0
Asian 19 2.1
Black 9 1.0
Native American 7 0.8
Indigenous (not American)
 4 0.4
No answer 123 13.3

SEXUALITY

Heterosexual 578 62.7%
Bisexual 157 17.0
Mixed 63 6.8
Genderqueer 20 2.2
Gay 17 1.8
Lesbian 7 0.8
Trans 2 0.2
No answer 77 8.4

DIETARY PREFERENCE

Vegetarian 258 28.0%
Omnivore 209 22.7%
Vegan 143 15.5
Not picky 139 15.1
Freegan 58 6.3
Other 34 3.7
Carnivore 18 2.0
Gourmet 16 1.7
Religious diet 3 0.3
Macrobiotic 2 0.2
No answer 42 4.6

RELIGION / SPIRITUALITY

Atheist 277 30.0%
Not religious 167 18.1
Agnostic 125 13.6
Other 81 8.8
Mixed 73 7.9
Buddhist 33 3.6
Pagan 31 3.4
Christian 28 3.0
Taoist 23 2.5
Judaism 11 1.2
Sub Genius 9 1.0
Catholic 8 0.9
Indigenous 6 0.7
Catholic Worker 4 0.4
Muslim 2 0.2
No answer 44 4.8

Your housing situation?

Parents 243 26.4%
Apartment - Share with others 237 25.7
Apartment - Just me 63 6.8
Own house 59 6.4
Rent house 55 6.0
Group house 53 6.0
Cohousing 37 4.0
Live in multiple locations 31 3.4
Housing co-op 27 2.9
Other 24 2.6
Couch surfing 19 2.1
Squat 9 1.0
Hobo 8 0.9
Commune 7 0.8
Homeless 4 0.4
Own condo 3 0.3
Intentional community 3 0.3
RV lifestyle 0 0.0
No answer 38 4.1

How would you characterize your class/economic background?

Middle middle class - white collar 154 16.7%
Just working class 144 15.6
Lower middle class - white collar 85 9.2
Lower middle class - blue collar 75 8.1
Middle middle class - blue collar 64 6.9
Upper middle class - white collar 56 6.1
Poor working class - blue collar 55 6.0
Middle middle class - pink collar 42 4.6
Dirt poor 41 4.4
Lower middle class - pink collar 35 3.8
Other 35 3.8
Poor working class - white collar 30 3.3
Upper middle class - blue collar 27 2.9
Upper class - parents are/were capitalists 13 1.4
Poor working class - pink collar 12 1.3
Upper middle class - pink collar 7 0.8
Upper class - white collar 5 0.5
Military brat 4 0.4
Upper class - inherited wealth 0 0.0
No answer 23 2.5

Work?

Full time 233 25.3%
Student 171 18.5
Student, who also works 147 18.1
Part time 79 8.6
On and off 76 8.2
Unemployed 53 5.7
Self-employed 25 2.7
Crimethincin' it 23 2.5
Other 18 2.0
Temping/casual 16 1.7
Never 16 1.7
Government handouts 12 1.3
No answer 33 3.6

Do you belong to a union?

Yes 170 18.4%
No 744 80.7
No answer 8 0.9

Are you a parent?

Yes 84 9.1%
No 828 89.8
No answer 10 1.1

How do you identify yourself politically?

Anarchist 209 22.7%
Anarcho-communist 86 9.3
No labels for me please 85 9.2
Other 91 9.9
Anarchist without adjectives 63 6.8
Anarcho-syndicalist 43 4.7
Eco-anarchist 35 3.8
Anti-authoritarian 34 3.7
Anarcho-punk 31 3.4
Social Anarchist 25 2.7
Anarcho-feminist 23 2.5
Free Thinker 20 2.2
Anarcho-situationist 18 2.0
Green 12 1.3
Socialist 12 1.3
Primitivist 11 1.2
Revolutionary 9 1.0
Leftist 8 0.9
Social Democrat 10 1.1
Philosophical anarchist 8 0.9
Social revolutionary 7 0.8
Communist 6 0.7
Libertarian 7 0.8
Libertarian Marxist 6 0.7
No answer 6 0.7
Practical anarchist 7 0.8
Insurrectionist 5 0.5
Punk 5 0.5
Platformist 4 0.4
Animal Liberationist 3 0.3
Individualist 3 0.3
Liberal 3 0.3
Marxist 3 0.3
Situationist 3 0.3
Syndicalist 3 0.3
Christian anarchist 2 0.2
G/L/B/T Activist 2 0.2
Non-ideological 2 0.2
Social Ecologist 2 0.2
Capitalist 1 0.1
Communalist 1 0.1
Conservative 1 0.1
Deep Ecologist 1 0.1
Egoist 1 0.1
Feminist 1 0.1
Leninist 1 0.1
Pacifist 1 0.1
Ultraleftist 1 0.1

Other political labels (free form entry)

"YOU NEED TO ADD MYSTICAL ANARCHIST and CHRISTIAN ANARCHIST"
"Anarcho-Communist, platformist"
"Insurrectionary, anti-work, class war anarchist"
"Anarcho-Communist/Libertarian Communist/Libertarian Socialist! Can't believe these aren't options!" (these options were added to the survey after this comment was made)
"several of these "labels" may describe me..."
"Anarcha-Communist"
"I am more of a militant minded anarchist"
Read the rest of the responses